The Tarren Hills

Where I hear you say?

These hills are overshadowed by Cadair Idris on the other side of the Talylyn Valley. 

I think they are well worth a visit as they should provide fine views over the Dovey Estuary and Cadair Idris. I sound unsure because we were mostly in low cloud. The only views we had were limited to parts of the Dovey Estuary. 

We parked in Abergwynolwyn and headed up the beautiful valley of Nant Gwernol, with cascades and emerald green pools. 

Of course, Toffee couldn't resist a swim. 

The first mountain top of the day was Tarrenhendre (634m), an uninspiring top made more so by the veil of cloud obscuring our views. 

The second top Tarren y Gesail (667m) was again shrouded in mist, so no views, but significantly this was my last 2000ft mountain top in Wales! 190 visited in the 7 years since my 50th birthday. 

Now I need to finish the English tops. 52 left to do out of the 252 in England. 

A fine mountain top in the Arans

What a beautiful and unassuming mountain top!
What made it so good was a grand cairn on the top of a rocky outcrop, fantastic views of so many other mountains I have visited in the last few years and a georgeous lake close to the summit.

Had it been warmer I might have been tempted to take a swim.

It is called Glasgwym (Blue Valley) 780m and the lake is Llyn y Fign, Lake of the bog.


We parked in the little car park at the end of the minor road in Cwm Cywarch about 5 km from Dinas Mawddwy. Our first summit of the day was Pen y Bryn- fforchog (Top of the forked Hill) at 685m.

Cadair Idris

The weather forecast was good and we had not been to the Cadair area for over 10 years. We booked into the Llanllwyda campsite; a lovely farm site that is well run by Mrs E Williams.

We packed the cotton tent and tarp to make a shelter over the front of the tent as we expected some rain.

Our plan for was to leave the car in the lay-by on the pass between Cross Foxes and Minfordd (on the A487 SH753135) and walk the main spine of the mountains back to the campsite. We had Liz to provide a lift back to the car.













We set off at about 9.30, and the start was not gentle! It heads straight up the grassy slope to Gau Graig (Hollow rock) at 683m, 400 m of ascent in about 1km. The top is crowned by a ring-like cairn.

Gau Graig

From here we headed SW keeping to the edge on the right which provides fine views of the steep cliffs below and Llyn Arran on the way to Mynydd Moel (Bare Mountain) at 863m. 

We continued the easy ascent to Penygadair at 893m, which was busy on this fine day. Toffee and Jess enjoyed scrounging picnic cast-offs and enjoyed the admiring comments as usual.  

 Unfortunately in the still air the flies were irritating so we did not linger on the top but headed onto our next which was Craig Cwm Amarch 791m. The views down to Llyn Cau are spectacular from this point.

Craig Cwm Amarch

 We then retraced our steps north to the col but headed NW up the other side towards Cyfrwy (The Saddle) 811m which provides fine views west back to Penygadair and Mynydd Moel, and our route this morning.

The route ahead drops down to the col where the Pony Track ascends from the north. The initial descent is not the easiest walking as it crossed a large boulder field, so you have to watch where you place your feet to avoid stumbling.

Once the col is reached the route is easy across grass and the gradients are easy. We headed for Carnedd  Lŵyd and Tyrrau Mawr (661m) and  Craig-llyn 622m.

View over Llynnau Cregennen and Mawddach Estuary

We descended steeply across rough grass and farmland to Bodilan Fach near Castell y Bere, and took a byway back to the campsite at Llanllwyda, tired and in need of a drink. We had walked 1225m of ascent and 1467m of descent over a distance of 15km approx. 

A good day having visited 7 tops towards my list of Welsh 2000ft mountains. 4 left in Wales out of the 190 in total.

Castle Combe

What a little gem! The village is unspoilt by modern development. Any new building has been tastefully built in keeping with the cottages and there are no TV aerials or satellite dishes.
We spent a few hours here meeting Lindsey's relatives over a tasty lunch in the pub. Then we had a delightful walk through the lanes and footpaths.

OK lets get into the Rhinogs whatever the weather does!

Ever optimistic that it would clear up we drove up the minor road into the depths of Cwmnantcol into low cloud and rain and parked near a cattle grid about 1km east of the church.

We donned a full set of waterproofs and gaiters expecting to get soaked. We set off  on a path/bridleway across the moorland between Moelfre and Moelblithcwm. The path on the ground does not follow the right of way marked on the OS map; it heads straight for the col at its lowest point. We joined the track at a long retangular wall boundry then across wet ground to the outflow of the resorvoir; Llyn Bodlyn.

On compass bearings we headed for the bend in the path that heads SW from Pont Scethin  to a cairn on the long shoulder that leads down from Diffwys. From here the navigation is ealy as the wall acts as a handrail all the way to Diffwys at 750m.

Llyn Hywel

Still rainin, howling a gale and visibility down to 50m.

We kept our heads down following that faithful wall over Crib-y-rhiw  and Y Llethr at 756m. The cols between do not drop much otherwise we would have lost heart. We encountered a lone fell runner heading south into the wind and rain who had found a map. I hope the owner found their way off the hills in that cloud?

The descent into the col between Y Llethr and Rhinog Fach was rocky and steep and the rain had made the rock very slippery.
But, we dropped out of the cloud for a brief glimpse of Llyn Hywel, so here it is!

Toffee in the Afon Cwmnantcol

The ascent to Rhinog Fach ws the most enjoyable part of the walk, on interesting rock with little scrambles to maintain the interest.

The top of Rhinog Fach 712m was not a place to linger on such a windy and wet day but the rain had at last stopped!

The descent north, is initially on a good path that peters out amongst the crags, boulders and heather that would have been easier to negotiate could we see where we were heading, but the low cloud persisted.

We ended up on a path west of Llyn Cwmhosen that met the path through Bwlch Drws-Ardudwy.

Bwlch Drws-Ardudwy

We found the descent tiring on the slippery rock and the dogs didn't like the craggy drops and boulders. The walk back to the car after a long day seemed to go on for ever, but we have sworn to return in descent weather when we can see what we are walking amongst.

The Wild Rhinogs

The Rhinogs are a wild range of mountains in the Snowdonia National Park. They are usually passed by on the way to the Honey Pot spots around Snowdon. The view that most people see of these rugged and beautiful mountains is their dramatic profile as they drive past on  A470 between Glanllwyd and Trawsfynydd.
Most visits to these heather clad mountains are made via the Roman Steps, but we were heading for the even more remote southern tops. We were going to explore Diffwys, Crib y Rhiw, Y Llethr and Rhinog Fach.





We arrived at a beautiful Campsite in Cwm Nantcol, a couple of kilometres east of Llanbedr.

It was a lovely bright and sunny Friday afternoon, so we went on the riverside trail that led past some waterfalls and afforded superb views of the Y Llethr in the distance.







 

 Unfortunately the weather deteriorated that night with heavy rain and high winds coming in from the south west. We therefore decided against heading into the hills and opted for a walk along the coast from Llanddwywe north to Mochras (Shell Island).
The strong wind was blowing loose sand along against our backs, a good reason for heading north and not south into the wind.

We returned along a footpath that skirts the edge of the airfield just behind the dunes. The going was tough, battling into the wind and trying to find a non-existent path.



The hills remained shrouded in a deep layer of cloud all day.